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Purple Poppy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_poppy

The purple poppy is a symbol of remembrance in the United Kingdom for animals that served during wartime. The symbol was created in 2006 based on the principle of the traditional red remembrance poppy for Remembrance Day.

In contemporary service, most animals in United Kingdom military service are military working dogs, particularly in the 1st Military Working Dog Regiment. Historically the greatest number of animal casualties in conflict have been horses and ponies.

The purple poppy was created in 2006 by the charity Animal Aid as a way to commemorate animals which served during conflicts as the charity viewed that they had been the forgotten victims of war.^[1] Approximately eight million horses and donkeys died during the First World War.^[2] It was created to be worn alongside red or white poppies.^[1] Animal Aid continued to sell the purple poppy with proceeds going to them until 2015 when they replaced the symbol with an enamel purple paw badge as they felt it was being misinterpreted — the animals are not "heroes" but victims.^[3][4] The purple poppy symbol was subsequently picked up by the Murphy's Army charity in 2016 and continued to be sold by them.^[5][6]

There is a specified purple poppy day in addition to Remembrance Day on 11 November where purple poppies would be worn. The date is movable, however. In 2018, in order to coincide with 100 years since the end of the First World War, 23 August was chosen as purple poppy day to coincide with the Battle of Mons. This was the date of the first battle between British and German forces during the First World War.^[7]

To all the service dogs that keep us safe, we salute you!

These two dogs are beautiful and are American heros. 

Dogs in warfare have a long history starting in ancient times. From war dogs trained in combat to their use as scouts, sentries and trackers, their uses have been varied in military usage. 

Information below was copied from The United States War Dogs Association, Inc.  site. For more information please go to: www.uswardogs.org/war-dog-history/types-war-dogs/

Types of War Dogs

Why War Dogs?

In addition to all the fine qualities that dogs have as team members, dogs can do even more. They have visual and olfactory sensory abilities that are literally superhuman, can go where a soldier cannot, and can often subdue or intimidate a foe more quickly with non-lethal force. Because of these traits, they have been successfully trained for many military duties and roles by modern armies for a century.

War Dogs: Sense of Smell

 Among the dog’s abilities that far exceed a man is his sense of smell. Dogs are reported to have ten to twenty times the number of receptors in their nose, compared to a human, and the olfactory part of their brain (devoted to smell) is much larger. This gives them the ability to detect very faint odors and to discriminate between very slight differences in chemical composition.

This literally superhuman ability makes dogs ideal for tasks such as tracking, detection of explosives or narcotics, casualty location, and search and rescue. When there is little or no wind, a dog can detect intruders up to 200 meters away using its senses of smell, hearing, and sight. When placed to take advantage of odors carried on the wind the range is extended, to perhaps as much as 1000 meters. In unfavorable wind conditions, a dog can still detect by sound and sight. Of course, a dog’s capabilities are reduced by smoke, dust, heavy vegetation, and similar confusing factors.

Roles and Duties for Military Working Dogs

Over the centuries dogs have had many roles with the military, but in modern times specific duties have been defined where dogs can give the best service. While in the past they have done everything from catch rats to draw fire to expose enemy positions, today dogs are given humane tasks where their special skills do the most good.

On this page, the most common duties for Military Working Dogs are defined.

Sentry Dogs

These dogs worked on a short leash and were taught to give warning by growling, alerting or barking. They were especially valuable for working in the dark when attack from cover or the rear was most likely. The sentry dog was taught to accompany a military or civilian guard on patrol and give him warning of the approach or presence of strangers within the protected area.

Sentry dogs are trained to warn their handlers of the approach or presence of strange persons and are utilized for garding supply dumps, airports, war plants, and other vital installations. Their use has proved them to be valuable in any place where security against intruders must be maintained.

Of the 10,425 dogs trained in WW II, around 9,300 were used for sentry duty. Sentry dogs were issued to hundreds of military organizations such as coastal fortifications, harbor defenses, arsenals, ammunition dumps, airfields, depots and industrial plants. The largest group of sentry dogs (3,174) were trained in 1943 and issued to the Coast Guard for beach patrols guarding against enemy submarine activities.

Scout or Patrol Dogs

In addition to the skills for sentry dogs, scout or patrol dogs were trained to work in silence to aid in the detection of snipers, ambushes and other enemy forces within a particular locality. Only dogs with superior intelligence and a quiet disposition were selected for scout dog training. The scout dog and his Quartermaster handler normally walked point on combat patrols, well in front of the Infantry patrol.

Scout dogs could detect the presence of the enemy at distances up to 1,000 yards, long before men became aware of them. When a scout dog alerted to the enemy, the dog would stiffen its body, raise its hackles, prick its ears and hold its tail rigid. The presence of the dogs with patrols greatly lessened the danger of ambush and tended to boost morale.

Messenger Dogs

The most desired quality in these dogs was loyalty, since the dogs must be motivated by the desire to work with two handlers. They learned to travel silently and take advantage of natural cover when moving between the two handlers.

Mine Dogs

These dogs, also called the “M-Dog” or mine detection dog, were trained to find trip wires, booby traps, metallic and nonmetallic mines. Units were sent to North Africa in World War II. However, the dogs had problems detecting mines under combat conditions.

Casualty Dogs

Casualty Dogs, like search and rescue dogs, are trained to search for and report casualties lying in obscure places, casualties that are difficult for collecting parties to locate. In cases of severe shock or hemorrhage, minutes saved in locating such casualties often mean the difference between life and death.

Tunnel Dogs

In Vietnam there was a specialized requirement for tunnel dogs to detect amd explore the tunnels exploited by the Viet Cong. The tunnel dwellers feared the dogs and used tactics to confuse the dogs. For example they washed with GI soap and covered air vents with shirts taken from Americans so the dogs’ sense of smell would not be alerted.

Explosives Detection

In the War on Terrorism a common threat is explosives hidden on a person, in a vehicle, or roadside location. Explosives Detection dogs are trained to alert on the scent of chemicals used in explosives. With their superior sense of smell it is very difficult to package explosives in a way a dog cannot detect. Explosives dogs are deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and in many other CONUS and OCONUS locations for this purpose

Dinner Time?

Happy Halloween....

Rajah is a minor character in Disney's 1992 animated feature film, Aladdin. 

He is Princess Jasmine's loyal, protective pet tiger and constant companion. 

This Halloween Jasmine traded in her tiger for her lovable Dexter!

Fun Halloween costume

Pic copied from FB post

I don't know who these characters are but Mama remembers them. She says this is a cute pic. She tried to tell me about the Little Rascals and how Petey was a famous Pit Bull actor. Oh, wait, now I remember, I just had to look at the right-column at the bottom of my blog to see a picture of Petey!

Petey: The Little Rascals Dog

Petey, seen as a nanny dog, is the kids loyal and affectionate companion who protects and entertains them. The first dog to play Petey in The Little Rascals was an American pit bull terrier named Pal, owned by Harry Lucenay. Many sources say Pal was hired in 1927 and his career ended in 1930 when he died of suspected poisoning by someone with a grudge against Harry. 

Pal's puppy Pete replaced him in the show after his death. According to Ted Lucenay, Harry's son who grew up with Pete, "There were other Petes, but this is the original Pete."

Pete retired from the show in 1932 after Harry was fired from the Hal Roach Studios, but the lovable dog continued to please his fans. The family would spend summers in Atlantic City, NJ and Harry would take Pet to the Steel Pier where children and adults could meet him and pose for photographs. 

The child actors loved working with Pete. Jackie Cooper, who was allowed to take Pete home with him for the weekend, wrote in his autobiography "I loved that dog. To stay a whole weekend with Pete was my idea of glory and paradise combined."

After Pete's retirement, other unrelated dogs were used to play Petey in The Little Rascals, and rings were applied to their eyes, some around the right eye and some around the left eye.

Source: Famous Dogs in History

Woof, woof till later, 
Zoey

Trees and more trees

A few weeks ago Mama had me looking at all the new trees that were planted along part of the Barnegat Rail Trail. On one of our walks we counted 157 new plantings. A week later, Mama notice more trees were added to the collection.  There is a variety of new trees--Scarlet Oak, Platanus x Acerifolia, Maple Red Sunset, Willow Oak, Maple October Glory, Pitch Pine, and Sweet Gum Happy Daze. We hope they all survive the winter and they grow into beautiful trees shading the trail.

Woof, woof till later, 
Zoey

Pitbull Mamma

We are not monsters...

It's hard to understand why certain animals and breeds of certain species are vilified. Pit Bulls, Dobermans, German Shepherds, and Rottweilers are an example. If you ask me, humans are the problem. They create problems. They're cruel. They can abuse.

October is Pitbull awareness month

There are no bad pitbulls just bad guardians

Pit bull is the common name for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers. The pit bull-type is particularly ambiguous, as it encompasses a range of pedigree breeds, informal types and appearances that cannot be reliably identified. Wikipedia

Lifespan: American Pit Bull Terrier: 8 – 15 years, American Staffordshire Terrier: 12 – 16 years

Mass: American Pit Bull Terrier: 35 – 65 lbs, Staffordshire Bull Terrier: 29 – 37 lbs

Height: American Pit Bull Terrier: 18 – 21 in., MORE

Life span: The average life span of the American Pit Bull Terrier ranges from 10 to 12 years.

Here are some pics of me and my guardians:

Want to exchange?

No message needed here. This really could be me...same thought, same favorite resting place, and same face and paw!

Woof, woof, till later, 
Zoey

Just saying...

WHY DOGS LIVE LESS THAN HUMANS

Copied from Facebook post on June 25, 2019: 

Bill Overton

October 8, 2018

WHY DOGS LIVE LESS THAN HUMANS

Here's the surprising answer of a 6 year old child.

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog’s owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.

I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn’t do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.

As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker‘s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker’s transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker’s Death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that dogs' lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ”I know why.”

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I’d never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try and live.

He said, ”People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life — like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” The six-year-old continued,

”Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t have to stay for as long as we do.”

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like:

• When your loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
• Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
• Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
• Take naps.
• Stretch before rising.
• Run, romp, and play daily.
• Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
• On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
• On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
• When you’re happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
• Be faithful.
• Never pretend to be something you’re not.
• If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
• When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

That's the secret of happiness that we can learn from a good dog.

How a Tick Bite Can Give You a Red Meat Allergy

Scientists think that lone star ticks can induce an allergy to red meat. Here's how to protect yourself.

Consumer Reports, by Catherine Roberts, last updated: May 09, 2019

Most of us worry about Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever when getting a tick bite. But different species of ticks can transmit a variety of diseases—and at least one very unusual ailment, scientists have learned: an allergy to red meat.

A growing body of evidence shows that the lone star tick—most prevalent in the southeastern U.S.—could be the cause of an allergy to a carbohydrate known as alpha-gal, which is found in red meat.

Scientists aren’t sure just how common this allergy is. But lone star ticks are spreading—their habitat now extends from the Southeast almost all the way to the Canadian border—which means more people may encounter them. Scientists who study the alpha-gal allergy estimated back in 2013 that more than 5,000 people in the Southeast U.S. alone could have the allergy.

A 2018 study in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology suggests that a meat allergy caused by ticks may be more common than previously known, and could explain some previously unexplained cases of severe allergic reactions.

Here’s what you need to know about this allergy.

What Recent Research Reveals
Initially, scientists connected the dots between lone star ticks and meat allergies because of overlap between the geographic areas where the tick and the allergy were most common, according to an analysis published earlier this year in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Other studies showed that people who had the allergy tended to have a history of being bitten by ticks, or worked in jobs where they were likely to be exposed to ticks.

And in two recent cases reported in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, people who had an allergic reaction to red meat developed hives around the area where they had been previously bitten by a tick.

The 2018 study looked at just one allergy clinic in Tennessee, and found that in cases where they were able to pinpoint the cause, the alpha-gal allergy was behind about a third of anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) cases seen there between 2006 and 2016. That’s more than were caused by food allergies to peanuts, shellfish, or others, the researchers found.

Study author Jay Lieberman, M.D., associate professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and vice chair of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Food Allergy Committee, is quick to point out that these results do not mean that a third of severe allergic reactions nationwide are due to the effects of lone star tick bites, or that alpha gal is the number one cause of anaphylaxis in the country.

But Lieberman says the clinic has performed similar analyses in previous years, before the alpha-gal red meat allergy was discovered. In those earlier studies, doctors weren’t able to determine a cause for a greater percentage of anaphylaxis cases.

The newer study suggests that a significant number of those earlier cases with an unknown cause may actually have been due to this recently discovered allergy.

Understanding Meat Allergies
It’s not entirely clear to scientists why a bite from a tick could cause a person to develop an allergy to red meat, Lieberman says, or how common such an allergy is. And it doesn’t happen to everybody who’s bitten.Only some people who’ve been bitten by lone star ticks will develop the antibodies that indicate a possible allergy to alpha-gal, a substance in red meat. Of the people who do develop those antibodies, Lieberman says, some won’t ever show symptoms of an allergic reaction to red meat.

There’s also an intriguing difference between the alpha-gal red meat allergy and every other type of food allergy. Typically, allergic reactions to food occur immediately after exposure, within a few minutes. With an alpha-gal allergy, however, a reaction typically doesn’t start until several hours after eating red meat—which can make it challenging to pinpoint the culprit.

Researchers first linked tick bites to red meat allergies almost a decade ago. But there are still a lot of questions left to answer about why some people develop the allergy and some don’t, how many people have been affected, and why the reaction to red meat is delayed, rather than immediate.

What to Watch For
Early signs of anaphylaxis may include a metallic taste, burning, tingling, or itching of the tongue or mouth, headache, and feelings of fear or confusion. A reaction can progress quickly, and severe symptoms include throat swelling, difficulty breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, and more.

If you think you may be experiencing anaphylaxis, even if you’ve never had an allergic reaction before, you should call 911. (If you know you have an allergy to food, and you experience symptoms of anaphylaxis, especially trouble breathing, wheezing, or throat swelling, you should use an epinephrine auto-injector if you have one.)

When the reaction is under control, talk to your doctor about whether red meat could have been the cause of your symptoms, since some doctors may not be aware of the alpha-gal allergy, suggests Princess Ogbogu, M.D., division director of allergy and immunology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

There’s no cure for red meat allergy, so if you’re diagnosed, you’ll need to avoid the foods that trigger a reaction. Commonly, that includes various kinds of red meats. But some people can also become sensitive to other items that contain alpha-gal, including dairy, and even, rarely, sweets that contain gelatin or medications derived from animal byproducts.

In some cases, Lieberman says, if people who’ve developed alpha- gal allergies avoid all future tick bites from lone star ticks (or the varieties that cause the allergy in other countries), their levels of the antibodies to alpha-gal may diminish, and the allergy could subside. It’s unknown how common this is, however.

About the Lone Star Tick
Lone star ticks, so named for the white splotch on the backs of adult females, are most common in southern and eastern states. Like other ticks, however, their geographic distribution is expanding, according to Ellen Stromdahl, a retired entomologist from the tickborne disease laboratory of the U.S. Army Public Health Center in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.

Lone star ticks don’t cause Lyme disease, as a recent analysis that Stromdahl conducted shows. But along with spreading the alpha-gal allergy, they can also transmit the bacteria that cause another disease called ehrlichiosis. Ehrlichiosis can cause fever, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, and, rarely, rash. It’s fatal in about 1.8 percent of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although it can be treated with antibiotics.

A lone star tick is much less likely to carry ehrlichiosis than a blacklegged tick is likely to carry Lyme disease, notes Stromdahl. But lone star ticks are much more aggressive than other common types of ticks in the U.S. “You’re more likely to be mobbed by lone star ticks,” she says, and finding multiple bites is common if you’ve been in their habitat.

Protect Yourself From Ticks
As with any tick bite, it’s important not to panic if you discover one, Lieberman says. “The vast majority in this country and elsewhere who get bitten by ticks don’t develop alpha-gal allergy,” he says.

Still, you can take reasonable precautions to protect yourself from ticks and the diseases—or allergies—they can cause. Here’s what to do:

Wear an effective bug spray if you’re going to be in an area where ticks are common. Lone star and other types of ticks prefer wooded areas, brush, and long grass. Consumer Reports’ insect repellent testing has found that products containing 25 to 30 percent deet provide the most reliable protection. (Check out our top-rated repellents.)

Dress carefully. Wear long pants and long sleeves, and tuck your pants into your socks. Wearing clothing commercially treated with the pesticide permethrin, or treating your clothes and gear with permethrin yourself, is also a good option for additional protection.

Check yourself for ticks at the end of every day you’ve been out in their territory. Taking a shower soon after you come in is a good opportunity to wash away any ticks that may be crawling on your skin without having yet bitten you, and to carefully look for any that have attached. If you find them on you, remove them properly.

Be careful with the clothes you were wearing in tick habitats, Stromdahl recommends. Run them through a cycle in a hot dryer to kill any ticks that may be clinging on, and leave your shoes outside in the sun.

Be careful of ticks...

Boy was my mama scared when she saw this on my face so close to my tear duct. She tried to remove it but it wouldn't budge! She and Dad were not certain it was a tick until they took me to the vet. As soon as the vet removed it you could clearly identify it as a disgusting tick. Yuck! Now I am getting extra cheese (which makes me happy) to hide the antibiotic pills that I have to swallow for two weeks. The vet was glad to hear that Mama started my K9 Advantix in April and I am up-to-date with my vaccines.

Mamma has to investigate bug repellent because this is a serious tick season due to the warm winter and wet spring last year (according to researchers at Rutgers). Thank goodness the vet said we should continue to go on our hikes, we just have to spend extra time protecting ourselves.

It is a jungle out there...be extra careful canines and humans. Enjoy Spring!

Woof, woof, till later, 

Zoey

Mild winter, wet 2018 may cause surge in ticks in NJ, Northeast

A mild winter coupled with an excessively rainy 2018 may lead to a surge in the number of ticks capable of transmitting Lyme disease this spring, according to researchers at Rutgers University.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/environment/2019/03/14/nj-weather-warm-winter-may-prompt-more-ticks-spring/3131637002/


Tips on avoiding a tick bite
1. Keep grass short and underbrush thinned at your home.
2. Apply EPA-registered insect repellent on your skin, clothing, boots and camping gear when outdoors to prevent ticks from getting on your body.
3. Wear light-colored clothes to help you spot ticks easily.
4. Tuck pants into socks to keep ticks from getting under your clothes.
5. Check your body for ticks and shower within two hours of being outdoors.
6. If you find a tick, carefully remove it with fine-pointed tweezers. Grasp it by the mouth parts closest to the skin and pull it steadily outward. Do not use petroleum jelly, noxious chemicals or hot objects. The sooner the tick is removed, the less likely it is to transmit disease.

 
Below is some information about human repellent reprinted from Consumer Reports. Please click on the link if you are interested in reading the entire article by Jeneen Interlandi, last updated on April 24, 2019. 

https://www.consumerreports.org/insect-repellent/how-safe-is-deet-insect-repellent-safety/



How Safe Is Deet? 
Despite assurances about the chemical, consumer concerns persist. Is there a reason to worry?

Deet is the most widely used insect repellent in the U.S. It has been around longer than any other active ingredient, and many scientists say it’s the gold standard for all repellents.

Consumer Reports' testing has consistently ranked deet-based products among the top performers, and our experts agree with the broad scientific consensus that the chemical is safe and effective when used as directed.

Still, many consumers have reservations about using it, and many readers ask Consumer Reports every year about it. Is deet really safe? How do we know? What about all the reports of deet-related illnesses, injuries, and even deaths?

If you’re worried—or just wondering about—the potential downsides of choosing a deet-based repellent, you're not alone. A 2018 Consumer Reports nationally representative survey of 2,052 adults found that 25 percent of Americans said they avoid using insect repellents with deet. And about a third said they thought repellents containing deet are not as safe as those that don't have the chemical.

CR reviewed the scientific literature and spoke with scientists who have studied the chemical. Here’s a rundown of what the research shows and what you need to know.

What Exactly Is Deet?

Deet (known to chemists as N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide) is a yellowish liquid that, when applied to skin or clothing, repels a number of biting insects, including mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. The chemical was created by USDA chemists in the 1940s for use by the U.S. military. It has been commercially available since 1957 and has since become commonplace.

Deet is a true repellent: It protects not by killing mosquitoes or other insects but by preventing them from landing on skin or clothing in the first place. How exactly the chemical achieves this feat has been a bit of a mystery to scientists.

One long-held theory is that deet blocks an insect’s ability to smell human sweat and breath. More recent research suggests a different, simpler explanation: The compound just smells incredibly bad to most bugs, so much so that they avoid all contact with it.

Is Deet Safe?

The balance of evidence indicates that deet is safe when used as directed. There are a few things to keep in mind when considering reports to the contrary:

1. The overall incidence of deet poisoning is very low. In 1998 the Environmental Protection Agency conducted a definitive assessment of the chemical. The agency turned up 46 seizures and four deaths that were potentially linked to deet exposure. It estimated that since 1960, the incidence of seizures with a potential link to deet exposure was one per 100 million uses. 

2. Most of those reported cases involved a misuse of deet products.Ingestion or “dermal application not consistent with label instructions” was the most common source of potential deet toxicity, according to the EPA report. The agency concluded that when consumers followed product-label instructions and took reasonable precautions, the health risks of deet essentially vanished.

3. A vast majority of cases of deet toxicity are mild. In another seminal analysis, researchers looked at more than 9,000 calls made to poison control centers between 1985 and 1989. They found that nearly 90 percent of the injuries were treated at home, and that of those people referred to health centers, 80 percent were discharged after an examination. A second analysis of more than 20,000 calls made between 1993 and 1997 found similar results.

4. There is no reliable evidence that deet causes cancer. Neither the Department of Health and Human Services nor the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs has classified deet as a carcinogen. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, animal studies have not found an increase in tumors in research subjects who were given oral deet tablets or who had liquid deet applied to their skin. A Swedish study did find that men who used insect repellent for 115 days or longer faced an increased risk of developing testicular cancer. (A majority of repellents contained deet at the time of the study.) But the CDC says that the study was flawed and that the results were not conclusive.

Find more information regarding risk for the environment, children, and pregnant women. Also tips for safe use by clicking on the link above. 

Alternatives to Deet

If you still can’t bear to put deet on your skin (some people say it smells terrible, others that they will never trust the chemical no matter what anyone tells them), there are other effective repellents to consider:

Picaridin--Picaridin is a repellent that was modeled after a molecule found in pepper plants. It has been on the U.S. market since 2005 and has done well in Consumer Reports’ tests. Specifically, spray products with at least 20 percent picaridin have worked as well or better than some deet-based ones. Not as much research has been done on picaridin as on deet. But the data that does exist indicate that the chemical is safe, and the World Health Organization and the CDC recommend picaridin.

Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE)--Oil of lemon eucalyptus is another active ingredient that’s done well in CR's tests (especially at concentrations of 30 percent). OLE is registered with the EPA as a biopesticide, meaning that products containing this ingredient are subject to at least some testing for safety and efficacy. To be sure, the requirements for biopesticides are more lax than they are for synthetic products like deet and picaridin: OLE is not recommended for children younger than 3. But for everyone else, when used as directed, our experts agree with the CDC and EPA that it's safe and works well.

All are welcome to the 32nd Annual Liturgy for Parents Whose Children Have Died

The annual mass is a beautiful way of remembering our children who no longer live on this planet.  It doesn't matter how old your child(ren) was or how he/she died, or how long ago. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP and add your child's name to the list of names that will be read during the Liturgy.  Peace & blessings to all who are grieving the loss of a child.

Someone thinks she is a lap dog...

Who said a 60 plus pound dog can't be a comfy, cozy lap dog?

Woof, woof till later, 

Zoey

A NO NO

This is how children get bit and dogs pay the price.

Don't let children do this to dogs. 

Many people don't know how to read a dog's comfort zone. Although each dog has its own personality, they all pretty much speak the same body language. They are also experts at reading our body language too. Please don't lose sight that a dog is an animal and you can never judge 100% what your dog will do when it is put into an uncomfortable situation. Please be smart and keep your dog and children safe. 

Picture copied from Facebook. 

Woof, woof till later, 

Zoey

Reprinted from FB / Consumer Reports / February 10, 2018 /Julia Calderone 

Browse the aisles at your local pet store, and you might notice an increasing number of foods touted as having raw ingredients.

Raw diets have been growing in popularity as some consumers have become convinced of the purported benefits—from shinier coats and cleaner teeth, to a longer life. Sales of raw frozen and refrigerated pet foods in the U.S. grew by 263 percent from $43.7 million in 2011 to $158.7 million in 2017, according to market research firm GfK.

But raw food diets are controversial, and many veterinarians and public health officials are warning consumers about the potential dangers of these diets.

Some of these products contain raw organ or muscle meats and whole or crushed animal and fish bones. Others are more akin to a raw vegetarian diet, including unpasteurized milk, uncooked eggs, as well as raw fruits, grains, and veggies.

Some vets say these combinations may not be nutritionally balanced. And because the ingredients are uncooked, they may be a source of bacteria and other pathogens that can cause foodborne illness to pets and people.

If you’re thinking about putting your pet on a raw food diet, here’s what you need to know.

The Risk for Your Pet

Public health agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—as well as the bulk of veterinarians and professional vet organizations—all warn against feeding pets raw food. 

“These diets could expose animals and humans to dangerous bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter,” says Michael San Filippo, a spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).

The FDA is concerned about the public health risks of raw diets, according to a statement on the agency’s website. Scientists from the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) analyzed in a 2014 study 196 frozen raw cat and dog food samples they purchased online. Fifteen tested positive for Salmonella, and 32 contained Listeria monocytogenes.

In a study published last month in the journal Vet Record, Dutch researchers found that 28 of 35 commercial frozen raw meat-based diets from eight different brands were tainted with antibiotic-resistant E. coli bacteria. Eight samples tested positive for E. coli O157:H7, a particularly nasty strain that, in humans, can cause bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, and possibly lead to kidney failure and death. (This strain was responsible for a recent food poisoning outbreak in the U.S. and Canada linked to leafy greens.) Samples also tested positive for Listeria and Salmonella.

Raw food manufacturers try to minimize this risk, but it can be challenging.  

Michael Vogel, co-owner of Smallbatch Pets—a raw pet food company that recently recalled two lots of its raw frozen chicken blend for dogs and cats due to potential contamination with Salmonella—says the company is trying to solve the problem of bacterial contamination by sourcing "the highest quality, human grade, USDA-inspected cuts of meats available to us."

Bette Schubert, a co-founder and senior vice president of sales and education at Bravo, another raw pet food manufacturer, says the company follows strict safety protocols, such as sourcing high-quality ingredients, keeping the facilities clean, and treating and testing the products before they go out the door. 

Some raw pet food advocates say the risks of foodborne illness are overblown because people know to be careful handling raw meat. And there's disagreement about how much risk the pathogens pose to pets.

"Dogs and cats are biologically designed to consume raw meat," Vogel says. "Their dentition, saliva, extremely acidic stomach acid, and short digestive tracts are optimized for consuming raw meat that may contain pathogens."

But while it's true that "dogs are a little bit less sensitive to bacteria than people," says Martine Hartogensis, D.V.M., a supervisory veterinary medical officer at the Office of Surveillance and Compliance at the FDA/CVM, "they can still get sick from it.” Symptoms in both cats and dogs include diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and lethargy.

The Risks for You

Even if pets don’t become ill, they can still transmit these bacteria to their owners.

Authors of a 2017 study published in the journal BMC Veterinary Research found that, compared to dogs given commercial diets, those fed raw food are about 23 times more likely to shed Salmonella organisms in their feces. This can pose a risk to you when you’re cleaning up after them, says Lisa M. Freeman, D.V.M., Ph.D., a professor of clinical nutrition at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

Your pet can also transfer the bacteria to you in other ways, she says, by licking your face after eating, or by scratching you after stepping in their own feces. Petting your dog or cat can expose you to bacteria, too, if some of the raw food or their feces gets stuck on their coat.

And if you don’t follow proper food safety practices while preparing raw food for your pet, says James E. Rogers, Ph.D., director of food safety research and testing at Consumer Reports, you can accidentally infect yourself.

“Since you’re not eating the pet food, you may not think you have to take the same care to wash your hands or the utensils you use,” says Rogers. “But you can easily get sick if you touch your mouth after being in contact with contaminated food, surfaces, or utensils.”

When You Don't Know It's Raw

In addition to frozen or fresh raw meat or meat and vegetable blends, raw foods for pets come in freeze-dried or dehydrated forms. “Most people don’t realize that bacteria can survive the process of freeze-drying,” says Rogers.

Some products may even appear to be conventional dry pet food, says Freeman at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, but may have a raw meat coating or may be mixed with freeze-dried raw chunks.

“These foods usually say ‘raw’ somewhere on the label,” says Freeman, “but it's not always obvious.”

Dried or freeze-dried rawhide chews, pig ears, cattle hooves, hearts, tracheas, and bull or steer penises (often called bully or pizzle sticks) can also be contaminated with Salmonella and other bacteria, she says. The FDA in November updated a warning about bone treats after about 90 dogs became ill after eating them between 2010 and 2017. In addition to symptoms such as choking, intestinal obstruction, and cuts and wounds in the mouth, illnesses also included vomiting, diarrhea, and rectal bleeding. About 15 dogs died.

At least nine people in the U.S. and Canada were sickened between 2004 and 2005 with Salmonella after feeding their dogs raw beef and salmon pet treats. And a large Salmonella outbreak in Canada in 1999 was linked to raw pig ears.

Questions About Nutrition

Advocates for raw food diets, especially those who sell them online, claim a range of benefits for pets, including fresher breath, more energy, and better overall health. But, says AVMA’s San Filippo, “there is no scientific evidence to support claims that raw food diets are better for pets than commercial diets.”

In fact, studies have found that raw food diets—both prepackaged and home-prepared—may not offer a healthy balance of nutrients for your pet, especially for growing puppies and kittens.

In a 2011 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, European researchers found that of 95 homemade raw meals for dogs they analyzed, 60 percent had deficiencies or excesses of 12 important nutrients. A smaller study Freeman published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2001 looked at three home-prepared and two commercial raw diets, and found them to be lacking in some essential nutrients, such as vitamins A and E, and contained overly high doses of others, such as vitamin D.

Freeman also says that raw meat diets tend to be high in fat, which may have the nice effect of making your pet’s coat glossier, but may also cause mild to severe gastrointestinal issues or increase the risk of obesity. A number of reports have also found that dogs on raw diets can have elevated blood levels of the hormone thyroxine, which can indicate an overactive thyroid.

And diets that contain raw bones may fracture your pet’s teeth as well as puncture the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, or colon.

Some evidence does suggest that raw foods are easier for dogs and cats to digest than cooked.

But Beth Hamper, D.V.M., Ph.D., a veterinarian at the VCA Advanced Veterinary Care Center in Indiana says, “I feel the risks of a raw meat diet outweigh the few benefits, such as higher digestibility and palatability. I discourage owners from feeding their pets these diets.”

Stay Safe When Feeding Your Pet

The FDA says the best safety move is to avoid the raw diet for your pet completely. Conventional dry, semi-moist, and canned pet foods, while not immune to contamination, are less likely to be tainted with pathogens than raw meat-based diets because they’re cooked. And, says Hartogensis at the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, they’re also designed to provide your pet with all the nutrition they need.

However, the FDA also acknowledges that some people prefer to feed their pets raw food. If that’s what you decide, keep the following tips in mind:

Talk to your vet. A survey published March 2017 in the peer-reviewed journal PeerJ found that among 2,171 pet owners, nearly 40 percent reported feeding their pets a diet of raw animal products. Of those, just nine percent had discussed this decision with their veterinarian, and 20 percent had used information they read online to determine what or how much raw animal product to feed their pets.

Because both commercial and homemade raw diets for pets tend to have major nutritional imbalances, ask your vet whether a given raw diet is safe for your pet. If you do decide to make your pet a raw meal from scratch, ensure that the recipe has been formulated by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist, says Freeman, and that you follow it exactly (in her experience, this often doesn’t happen).

Some commercial raw diets are intended only for “intermittent” or “supplemental” feeding, says Freeman. Because these are not nutritionally complete or balanced, they shouldn’t be your pet’s sole source of nutrition.

Freeze the food until you’re ready to serve. Freezing won’t kill any bacteria that may be already present, but it will keep them from multiplying further. Once you’re ready to use or serve raw food, says the FDA, thaw it in your fridge or microwave instead of on your countertop or in your sink.

Once thawed, handle the food with the same care as you would fresh, raw meat. Don’t rinse raw meat, poultry, fish, or seafood in your sink, because any bacteria they contain can spread to other food or surfaces, and store raw food in separate containers from other food.

If you make raw food meals at home, remember that it’s no less likely to be contaminated with bacteria or parasites than a store-bought one, says Freeman.

Clean and disinfect everything that touched the raw food. Wash countertops, the insides of refrigerators and microwaves, kitchen utensils, food bowls, and cutting boards with hot, soapy water to kill any bacteria that may be present. Then use a disinfectant. This can be a commercial product, or you can make your own, the FDA says, by mixing one tablespoon of bleach with four cups of water; for a larger batch, mix a quarter cup of bleach with a gallon of water. Wearing gloves, wipe down the contaminated surfaces with the solution with a clean sponge or rag. A dishwasher can also clean and disinfect.

And don’t forget your hands. Wash vigorously with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds.

Properly store or dispose of leftovers. If you don’t feed your pet an entire raw meal, cover and refrigerate the food in a sealed container or bag that is properly labeled. Store it separately from your own food. If your pet leaves some leftovers behind in its bowl, toss the rest and sanitize the bowl after every meal.

Take care around your pet. Don’t kiss your pet around its mouth, or let your pet lick your face, especially just after it has eaten raw food. Wash your hands after touching or being licked by your pet.